March 20, 2011

“Where the wild goose goes…”

Several days ago, as the clouds filtered the last rays of the sun just before it hid behind the mountains, this pair of Canadian Geese shot past me headed down river. The light was bad and the geese were flying very fast and low over the water but I chanced a photo. It’s not a very good one and I didn’t post it then, yet it stayed on my mind.

Perhaps because it has been a late spring and the winter was a cold and hard one, as I sensed the wild freedom of that pair of geese, they seemed to speak to me; an invitation to the wild country; and I was reminded of the lyrics of a song that has haunted me most of my life:

“My heart knows what the wild goose knows,
And I must go where the wild goose goes.
Wild goose, brother goose, which is best?
A wanderin’ foot or a heart at rest?”

I think he released the song in the late 40’s or early 50’s. I really enjoyed reading a comment on that link that was made by “GoatBeach” who commented: “My Dad played this 78 over and over…one of my﻿ best memories. Played it for him on his death bed, hoped he﻿ flew with that Wild Goose…”

I remember the lyrics. Funny how I had forgotten — then again, not funny. The geese headed down river, late in the evening — feeding, finding their mates, perhaps? Who knows? Only the wild goose knows.

Thanks Dave! The fading light was the biggest problem. I used spot metering which seems to have done well, but I limit the ISO because the D80 doesn’t do well with high ISO’s so I was stuck with 1/80 second exposure.

It is hard to photograph flying birds as I had tried not long ago to photograph an escaping red-tailed hawk. I hope to get more practice at a wildlife refuge of the migrating birds now flying in several weeks from now. Love the lyrics of the poem!

Yes, I panned: they were moving fast. I’ve read that they can fly as fast as 55mph, and these were doing at least that. I used my usual setup with spot metering and small area focus. It’s a challenge to keep on the target, but the results can be good. The problem here was the low light requiring a slow shutter speed (1/80th sec.).

They look slow when they are in their “V” formations high up, but when they fly close to the water they really move! During migration times we get a lot of late evening or early morning traffic from them and their sounds then are especially haunting.

Sometimes the photos that aren’t perfect are the best ones. This is a wonderful example. The fact that you caught this on such short notice and the raw, intense, beauty that is framed so well. I really liked the way it turned out.

“One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring…a migrating goose, staking 200 miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake, has no chance for easy retreat. His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges.”
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac